Chit Chat #2 Road Trippin'

The first part of The European Enigma is a huge success! Our shows are going really well and we are being spoiled by all our fans. A big thanks goes out to all the people that came to see us so far!

One of the great parts of touring is that you wake up in a different city, country almost every morning. A tour bus has a lot of advantages, one of them is always having a bed close by. There can also be some disadvantages as well.

When we woke up on the 25th of November in Rome, our tour manager told us that the bus was broken and that it needed to go to a garage. We collected our personal belongings and waited for results. The bus couldn't move from the territory and in order to get to our show in Marseille, we had to wake up at 6.30 after our show in Rome (which is really early when you are on tour time), to get a flight to Marseille. After our show in Marseille we were supposed to have a day off in Barcelona. We were all really excited about that. Too bad our bus was still not fixed. That meant a day off in Marseille.

On top of that we received the bad news that our tour bus driver had a heart attack and that he had to go to the hospital. He is doing ok now, luckily.

Our next bus call was 2 am to get to Madrid on time. Waking up a couple of hours later, we found out that we were running behind of our schedule and would be in Madrid around 19.30/20.00 and our show was at 21.00. Any setback and we would miss the show. Our TM (tour manager) told us to get out in Zaragoza and take a train to Madrid. More bad luck; all trains were fully booked.

So we rented a van. Arien and me got us some sandwiches for our little road trip and off we went.

Isaac drove the whole way. Our crew took the train from Barcelona when we picked up a second driver earlier that morning.

Due to good team work we made the show just in time. We arrived at 20.30 and had to hurry up to get ready and hit the stage. Our VIP meeting was postponed to after the show. Normally we have those between 17.30-18.30. We started a couple of minutes after 21.00 and had a great gig and some amazing tapas after our show.

We were all very glad that we made it to our show and didn't have to cancel. We also couldn't start much later because of the second party that was taking place at the venue shortly after our show.

After all that, you guys were totally in your right to cancel the show, but you thoughed through it. Unlike some others who will cancel entire tours because of lesser setbacks (seriously the bus driver having an heart attack, and all the bad luck with transportation must have sucked pretty bad).

I can see youuuu :) But I admit it took a little time. First, glad everything went well and everyone is ok! Even though I really like Madrid, I am Portuguese, so I want to thank the amazing concert last night, in Porto. Truly amazing. It's the 5th I went to see Epica, and each time is even better,you guys keep growing as a band and you give everything on stage. <3

Hi Simone. I am very grateful for what you did last Friday. You had a lot of setbacks and instead of cancelling the concert you decide to come to play. Your spanish fans are very very grateful about that. Epica had demonstrate their profesional attitude once again. I would like you could see Madrid and walk around their streets, but another time it could be possible (I hope in summer 2015, haha). Where did you go after the show to have dinner? I am very sad about the problems with the sound in Shoko, but Epica know how to deal with that and the show was nice. Epica is a powerful band and your voice is beautiful. Thank you once again for making us happy with your music, your band and your stories in this wonderful blog. European Enigma Tour is a success. Bye bye beautiful. Manu.

I agree with Ira last night in Porto was AMAZING thank you so much. For me it's the 4th time seeing you guys on stage and every time is better! For all the effort you went trough, you guys deserve all the respect in the world. And all the success ! Simone, the chit-chats are an awesome idea too, keep them coming. :)

It's amazing what you did to get in time to Madrid. We (spanish fans) are very very grateful for that. You guys are the best!It's a pity that you had to postpone your VIP meeting cause I was waiting for you (with a bunch of loyal fans) to came out and greet your non-vip fans. 2 hours later most of us gave up and left. Hope to meet you sometime in another show. Thank you for your music, and your voice... they're fantastic :)

A series of unfortunate events also made me miss the Meet&Greet with you guys at Paradise Garage in Lisbon, mainly the traffic, which was chaotic =( Anyway, your awesome show made up for any setbacks! I'm sorry to hear about your bus driver, hope he's doing okay right now. Thanks a lot for the hard work you put into these shows. You guys are doing a fabulous job. Let me extend my thanks for the crew as well!. Love your shows, your anima, everything! Best of luck!

I am glad your bus driver is now ok and that your show was not cancelled ! I saw you in Marseille and I was soooo impressed to meet you all, too bad I was too nervous to talk to you and to tell you how much I love your music and how you all inspire me.I sing too and I love to sing your beautiful songs! I am still looking for musicians to work with, but it is not easy to find some in my area.The show was amazing, it was like a dream for me! I hope we'll meet again! Take care, I wish you safe travels and great shows!

I read it and I can not believe it. It seems that you tell a cascade of misfortunes resolved in time ( for luck of the band). A heart attack ! It is too hard to read . I'm really glad that he is well. I was looking at all the photos you shared in the Epica's official facebook. I like this type of posts and make internal our favorite band . I look forward to seeing you on March 13, 2015 here in Argentina . XOXO

Wow, that's what I would call "almost mission impossible". I bet apart from being exausting, it must have been super exciting too (:Thank you so much for the wonderful concert in Rome, it was really amazing seeing you for the second time there, but even better this time because I was in the first row and could see all of you playing great music while having fun! I love you all so much! Never quit doing your own kind of music, because you have absolutely no equals, you're unique!Wishing you good luck for the rest of the tour and hoping to see you soon again!

I imagine being on tour as an exciting, adventurous and fun experience. Of course when a series of misadventures happen, just one after the other, must be very stressfull as well. I'm glad that everything turned out just fine.

I want to thank you for the great show in Milan. You were full of energy and killed the stage. I had a blast, you really brought me in Wonderland :P.The crowd was awesome too. And the combination of all this touched me really hard that I almost cry. Just so you know, 8 days have passed and I'm still going through post depression concert, and not knowing when I'm going to see you again makes me a little bit sad. Also, I feel so lucky and greatful to had the chance to meet you before the concert and exchange a few words with you all. The only thing I regret is that I was so nervous that I almost forgot how to speak English.

It makes me happy knowing that the tour is going very well. You are amazing, you are dedicated and work really hard so you deserve all this.

Last thing, thanks to you and your music I met a lot of nice people from different part of Italy. We keep in touch and I really feel like we are a sort of family and I'm not alone anymore.

Hi Simone! I know this post is a bit old, but I wanted to share that with the Burts Bees Rose tinted Lip balm, yes, in fact they may have changed the formula, same happened to one I had, then when I used the backup I accidentally put it on when I already had a lipstick and the mixture I think, it changed the properties or something...I now use "eos" lip balms, those don't suffer with any of the mentioned above. Have a lovely day!!

First, I'm happy to know that everything got right! It's impressive to see your efforts to make the show happens, all of it must have been so stressful. But it made me love Epica even more, you guys are amazing and so professional! I'm looking forward to see you here in Brazil. <3

My heart goes to your tour bus driver, hope his heart doesn't play tricks on him anymore. I'm glad for you (members of Epica) for your successful tour! I loved to see you all in Lisbon. It was a blast :) Hope you have better luck on your travels from now on. Quite an adventure you got there...